BAGUIO City is ready and waiting for the green light to start vaccination of children aged five to 11 years, according to Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong.
According to Magalong, all the systems and supplies are in place and the city is simply waiting for the signal to proceed with the vaccination of children from the Department of Health (DOH).
“We are just waiting, in fact it got delayed a little. I believe the vaccination in Manila will start today, for the five to 11, and a week after, we are going to start vaccination in other provinces in cities. I believe Baguio will be one of those,” Magalong said on Tuesday, February 8.
Dr. Rowena Galpo , head of the City Health Services Office (CHSO), during the Management Committee Meeting last week said that Baguio’s vaccination roll-out for the five to 11 group starts 10 days after vaccination in the National Capital Region for the age group commences. Observation shall be done on the implementation in NCR pilot areas, Dr. Galpo said.
As of February 5, the number of registered children lining up for the vaccination was 9,428, only around 20 percent of the 46,955 individual children in the age range recorded in Baguio City.
Magalong allayed concerns about safety, especially in light of the ongoing petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the rollout of vaccines for children started by two parents in Quezon City, citing scientific backing for the decision.
“At the end of the day, science, and our medical practitioners and experts all over the world are saying it’s a very safe vaccine for our kids. In fact, my grandson in the US, he’s six years old, was vaccinated in December, and he will come home here for his second dose,” Magalong said.
The National Task Force (NTF) has allotted a shipment of 780,000 specially formulated Pfizer vaccines for children for the city’s use as part of a nationwide 15 million doses for the vaccination of the age group.
The vaccines are lower in dosage compared to the standard vaccine for adults, and are expected to be rolled out first in the National Capital Region (NCR) followed by other regions.
The DOH and NTF said previously in a joint statement that the vaccine rollout will proceed as planned while the petition for a TRO remains unresolved.
